Meditation+on+Essential+Question+3

Essential Question 3

How are social identity, power, and academic literacy related?

As a student-teacher, I worked at a Title One school. The students belonged to poor families with a low socio-economic status. They were mostly African-American and Latino, and some were reading at an elementary school level even though it was a high school. Their ability to comprehend math, for example, lay not only in the math itself but in the teacher's ability to communicate the mathematical concepts in a language that made sense to them. As students who were exposed to standard English only when they were in the classroom, their academic literacy suffered. They often could not grasp certain concepts as communicated. This does not necessarily reflect their potential to learn them, though, as academic literacy, not intelligence, may have been the issue which prevented them from performing at a high level.

It is not a coincidence that people with a low socio-economic status have issues regarding academic literacy, are nonwhite minorities, and, in many cases, learned English as a second or third language. When I think about how identity, power, and academic literacy are related, I think about the works of Lisa Delpit and James Baldwin, and the debate about whether the United States should have a national language, which we conducted in class and online. I agree with Lisa Delpit that the language of power, the language one has to use in order to gain power in America, is the style of English developed by Caucasians. Academic literacy is based on standard English, and without academic literacy, one has far less of an opportunity to attain a position of power. Therefore, anyone who does not use standard English, or rather the English developed by white people, are at a social, cultural, academic, and economic disadvantage. To add insult to injury, the English dialects of nonwhite minorities often get its speakers branded as unintelligent. By labeling the English of nonwhite minorities "improper" and the English of white people "proper," we have contributed to the prejudices in our society. This suggests that there is a prejudice innate to academic English which serves to further disenfranchise nonwhite minorities.

Ethnic identity and social identity are intricately bound, and the way one speaks reflects those identities. I think code-switching is the most effective classroom exercise, the most effective academic tool, to help students who don't use academic English attain a new linguistic skill without feeling as though their identities are being rejected. We have to remind students that, in America, accessing the culture of power and success requires one to use the language of power. Since white people who use academic English in their writing are more likely to become rich and powerful than people who lack academic literacy, code-switching exercises become necessary.

I although think the debate about whether the U.S. should have a national language would benefit the students in high school as well. It will get them thinking about the importance of language, and many might realize, based on how impassioned they become during the debate, that the combination of power and academic literacy may be more important to them than they may have realized. They might take the acquisition of standard English more seriously after the debate, having understood how academic literacy, politics, and upward mobility are connected in America.

Social identity, power, and academic literacy are linked by the political landscape. In a multicultural society, academic literacy will reflect a style of speech which, in this case, favors white people, and without that literary, financial success may be impossible.

Lisa Delpit's writings in Modules 1 and 2 help explain how social identity, power, and academic literacy are related.

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Structured Choice Assignments